Man arrested in 1981 rape and murder of mentally impaired woman

Denver authorities have arrested a 53-year-old Pennsylvania man in the rape and murder of a woman in a group home for mentally disabled people in 1981.

Hector Bencomo-Hinojos has been charged with first-degree murder in the strangulation death of 32-year-old Patricia Beard.

"DPD detectives, Denver Crime Lab scientists, and members of the Denver District Attorney's Office worked tirelessly to solve this and other crimes — and have done an unbelievable job," District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said.

Beard's was the 100th rape or murder cold case solved by Denver police, crime analysts and prosecutors in an initiative called the Denver Cold Case Project, according to Morrissey's spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough.

Cold Cases

Beard was found in her studio apartment in the 500 block of East 11th Avenue on March 27, 1981.

Family and friends had not seen Beard for several days when a family member went to check on her.

Beard, who was partially clothed, was found on her bed. It was apparent that her killer had climbed up a pipe and entered her apartment through a window, according to a court document.

In an interview with investigators, Bencomo-Hinojos denied ever having sex with Beard and said he had never met her.

Evidence taken shortly after Beard was murdered was fed into an FBI database. Bencomo-Hinojos' DNA was taken when he was sent to a federal prison in Pennsylvania and was fed into the same database, leading to a recent match.

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The evidence indicated he had sexual contact with Beard within hours of her death. He had provided DNA to authorities when he was sent to a federal prison in Pennsylvania.

The case was unsolved until a DNA match identified Bencomo-Hinojos as a suspect, Kimbrough said.

Detectives interviewed Bencomo-Hinojos' wife, who said her husband would slap her in the face for not ironing his clothes and always carried a sharp pocket knife. On six occasions he came home with boxes of china, silverware and other items. He told his wife he was holding the possessions for friends.

He is currently in federal custody in Pennsylvania and now faces extradition.

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